Teleprompter displayed Spanish text, not Harris’ remarks | Fact check

An Oct. 11 Instagram post (direct link, archive link) shows Vice President Kamala Harris addressing a voter during a town hall hosted by Univision News. A teleprompter displaying white text and situated between Harris and the audience is visible in the clip.
“Telemundo exposes Kamala’s teleprompter scripted answers,” on-screen text in the video reads. “They are tired Of (sic) her nonsense.”
A similar Instagram post was liked more than 10,000 times in a day before it was deleted.
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Harris didn’t read her answers from the teleprompter, according to the president of Univision News and the town hall moderator. A report from Univision News showed the text on the teleprompter was in Spanish and was meant to help the moderator introduce an attendee.
Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, spoke with voters at a town hall on Oct. 10 in Las Vegas. The event was hosted by Univision News, a separate organization from Telemundo. The clip in the post shows part of Harris’ response to a question asked by a Tampa, Florida, voter about her plan to help hurricane victims recover, according to the full video of the broadcast shared by Univision News.
Harris lamented the spread of misinformation related to the federal government’s response to the storms and the politicization of the disasters, reflecting on her experience as a prosecutor.
“I never asked a witness or a victim of crime, ‘Are you a Republican? Are you a Democrat?’ The only question I ever asked is, ‘Are you OK?'” Harris said. “And sadly, we have seen over the last two weeks since Hurricane Helene, and now in the immediate aftermath of Milton, where people are playing political games.”
But Harris did not read this answer from the teleprompter.
In an Oct. 10 post on X, formerly Twitter, Daniel Coronell, president of Univision News, said the claim was “not true” and that the teleprompter displayed Spanish-language text meant to help the moderator of the event.
“I can tell you this with first-hand knowledge because I was in charge of the television program,” Coronell said in the post.
The moderator, journalist Enrique Acevedo, also said the claim was false in an Oct. 10 X post.
“The prompter displayed my introduction – in Spanish – and then it switched to a timer,” Acevedo said in the post. “Any claim to the contrary is simply untrue.”
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A Spanish-language report from Univision News about the false claim makes it clear the text on the teleprompter was in Spanish and unrelated to Harris’ answer. The report also included synchronized split-screen footage of Harris speaking and the broadcast control room, honing in on the moment being misrepresented by social media users and showing what was displayed on the teleprompter at the time.
The teleprompter read, “Y ahora vamos con Ivett Castillo que quiere contarle una historia familiar,” according to the report. This translates to roughly, “And now we go with Ivett Castillo who wants to tell you a family story,” according to Google Translate.
The moderator used similar language when he introduced the attendee named in the text to Harris.
“Our next question is over here,” Acevedo said. “Ivett Castillo, she lives here in Vegas. … She wants to share a personal story, madam vice president.”
Harris also addressed voters from different areas of the stage throughout the event where the teleprompter did not appear to be directly visible.
Univision News is scheduled to hold a town hall with former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, on Oct. 16 in Miami.
Anna Negron, a spokesperson for TelevisaUnivision, referred requests for comment to Coronell’s X post and the Univision News report debunking the claim. James Singer, a spokesperson for Harris’ campaign, declined to comment.
The Instagram user who shared the post didn’t provide evidence backing up the claim when contacted by USA TODAY.
AFP also debunked the claim.
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